Birthdays and Blood feuds: Chapter 1
by druidwolf
Summary: Birthday plans are thrown into ruins at the prospect of bloodshed, but why has this even happened? no violence in this chapter, don't worry This is my first fan fiction so i would really appreciate any opinions :D
1. Chapter 1

Tap, tap, tap

Numbers and letters played across the screen and reflected in Sunny's eyes as she clicked away at the keyboard, the screen reflected in her almond eyes. She gazed at the glowing box in front of her and, sighing, pushed her chair backwards. She looked down at the empty space beneath her desk where wolf usually slept;

"Looks like I'm the only one who remembered"

She stood up and walked to the large window overlooking the runway in silence, then:

"Sunny, can I come in?"

Sunny smiled "sounds like uncle Hal remembered" she thought happily. "Sure, I'm not doing anything" she called

The door opened and Hal Emmerich walked in. he was a handsome man, about 5"12 with a mop of dark brown hair and lopsided glasses. He wore denim jeans and a jacket. Sunny was amused to see him without his usual white lab coat.

"Hey what's up?" she asked, nonchalantly

Hal pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose "can you come with me sunny, I need some help with a program, I can't seem to get passed this one glitch in the system"

"Oh" sunny hid her disappointment "umm yeah sure" she grabbed her hoodie and followed her guardian out of the room.

"Umm, uncle Hal?" sunny asked "this isn't the way to your lab"

They were walking along a small grassy slope, away from the main building of the series of warehouses where her latest work was taking place.

Hal smiled "I know" he said, jogging down the slope. He held out his hand to support Sunny as she followed him, then, as she went to walk forwards he covered her eyes.

"Hey! What are you doing" she laughed as he led her forwards.

"Wait and see" came the reply

They walked on for 5 minutes then they stopped and Hal pulled his hands away

"SURPRISE!"

Sunny jumped and laughed as she looked forwards.

Boris in his usual maverick jacket, Kevin wearing jeans and a sleeveless gym top, Courtney with her blond hair loose over a purple blouse and shorts, George with his mechanical arm stark white against his yellow top and grey shorts and Hal, all sat on a large blue blanket with an unlit BBQ and a pile of presents to the side.

"Its ya birthday nah?" said George patting the blanket "what the rass are ya waitin for"

Everyone laughed as Sunny took her seat.

"You thought we had forgotten da?" asked Boris, chuckling.

"Of course she did" Kevin cut in "that's why it was a surprise" he winked at Sunny

"Oh guys" she smiled back, then heard something. Turning around she saw wolf bounding towards them, his mechanical legs pumping as he covered the shortening distance, he slowed to a stop in front of the blanket and, flicking his long tail, lay down next to Sunny on the grass.

"Wolf!" Sunny laughed as she reached over and hugged him.

"Happy birthday Sunny" he replied putting his clawed metal paw on her leg "I apologize for my tardiness"

"Oh no worries" she grinned and looked round at everyone then frowned.

"What's the matter Sunny" asked Courtney

"Nothing, nothing. I… I was just wondering if Raiden was coming"

Boris shifted and sighed "I am sorry sunny, Raiden wanted to come but he had to train soldiers da? I do not know when he will be back" he smiled sadly "he is busy man, but he left you a present"

"Oh ok" sunny sighed and then smiled "thanks guys, this is brilliant"

Kevin smiled and laughed "don't worry about Raiden he'll put those soldiers through their paces. Anyway how about I put the BBQ on and you can open your presents"

"Awesome" sunny reached over picked up a present, in the process one of them rolled off into the bushes

"Woops" sunny, stood up "I'd better go get that"

Her friends grinned up at her whilst Kevin hastily hid a laugh

"It was an accident" she protested "I'll just go and get it"

"No need" said Boris

"What do you mean?"

Boris nodded to a spot behind her and laughed

"Happy Birthday Sunny" came a quiet voice

"RAIDEN!" she cried as she ran towards him and hugged his metal frame fiercely

"Whoa careful Sunny" he grinned "this may be a military body but I think you're denting it"

Sunny laughed and let him go "I thought you were training" she said, looking at his cobalt black, custom-made frame and the HF katana on his back.

Raiden shrugged "I was, but I'm finished" he said, handing her back the runaway present.

"What were you doing" she asked, walking towards the blanket and sitting back down next to wolf, the present in her hand and the pile next to her forgotten.

"just routine combat training" he replied, throwing his Katana down on the grass and sitting down on her other side, one muscular leg stretched out, the other bent as he rested his arm on it. He nodded to his friends as he made himself comfortable. Sunny looked at Raiden and grinned when she caught his eye, before seeing something a little odd. Apparently she wasn't the only one who noticed

"Raiden are those...Splinters in your hair?" asked Courtney, raising an eyebrow. Everyone turned to look at him as he grinned sheepishly, and ran a clawed hand through his hair "it wouldn't surprise me" he laughed.

"Come here" sunny rolled her eyes at Courtney good-naturedly, before leaned over and tousled his hair, Raiden glanced at her and she smiled shyly before picking out a few wooden splinters about half a finger length.

"Thanks" said Raiden, shaking his head like a dog.

"How did they get there?" ask Kevin, as he placed a tray of burgers and hotdogs on the middle of the blanket and sat down next to Courtney. Everyone looked a Raiden expectantly.

"It's no big deal" he replied shrugging.

"Yeah right, come on tell us, it IS my birthday" whined sunny, "Hal, Wolf, tell him"

Wolf lifted his metallic head off his paws and flicked his "After taking into account your line of work and behavior and disregarding the chance of any system malfunction that may alter the previous, the likelihood of you procuring wood chips in your hair without a misadventure of a sort is very improbable"

Raiden raised an eyebrow and looked at Hal Emmerich

"Uuuuhh, what he said"

Everyone laughed,

Sunny smiled smugly, Raiden dropped his head and smirked.

Boris slapped his knee and said "Come then Raiden, tell us what happened"

The cyborg rubbed the back of his neck and Sunny, knowing she had got round him, lent against wolf. Courtney lent against Kev and grinned cheekily while Hal and Boris sprawled out.

"I was just working on anti cyborg hand to hand combat with some of the more experienced soldiers, the usual, except these guys... weren't great, even their commander was getting fed up with it. I ran each of them through their paces and they didn't seem to like ending up on the floor" he paused as Hal snorted into his burger and Sunny shook her head before continuing "I was working with the last one, he was doing just as bad as the others he friends could see that he wasn't going to win so thought they'd help out a bit, one of the soldiers grabbed a chair and" he made a swiping motion with his hand "I put both of them to the floor, but still"

There was a moment of silence before everyone erupted into laughter, even wolf made a throaty mechanical sound in the back of his throat.

"You're loosing your touch Mr Lightning bolt" gasped Kevin.

"Shut up Kev" Raiden threw a burger bun and hit him square in the face, the laughter, redoubled.

Even after the laughter died down, sunny continued to laugh, tears rolling down her face as she calmed for a second before doubling over again. She grasped Raiden's leg, breathing deeply "okay, I think I'm good" she wheezed, wiping away tears.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm fine Raiden, no worries"

Boris clapped his hands together, making everyone jump, although, sunny noticed, Wolf and Raiden didn't so much as flinch. "Come on sunny, open your presents" he said, his maverick coat rustling dryly.

Sunny grinned a reached for the present she had dropped earlier

_To sunny, happy birthday love Courtney_

She tore open the paper, opened a small box and pulled out a new Bluetooth earpiece

"Thanks Courtney, Just what I needed" she grinned happily, admiring the colour before placing in gently back inside the box and putting it to the side

The next one read: _happy birthday sunny, Kev._ She opened the mid-sized box and removed a black tank top with the slogan I'M WITH GENIUS underneath an arrow pointing upward. She laughed and looked at him, Kev winked at her and gave her a thumbs up

She then opened Boris' gift, a new watch with a sun insignia on the face, she strapped it on and admired the way it caught the sun.

Next was Hals, she gently opened the box and laughed, inside was a small, working Metal gear ray, she placed it on the palm of her hand and watched it walk around her hand, before showing it to Raiden "recognize him?" she asked cheekily

"Maybe a little" he snorted, unconsciously rubbing his right arm.

For the next 20 minutes she tore through her remaining presents, finding jumpers, perfumes and a new pair of on-ear headphones, before reaching for the last one

_To sunny, happy birthday love Rose, John and Raiden_

She gently unwrapped the paper and found a small silver box, engraved with a depiction of the sun and the words "the brightest of stars" tenderly she opened it to find a delicate woven silver bracelet and matching locket, she picked up the bracelet and admired the detail, in the weave were small crystalline beads shining in various shades of orange, yellow and gold. She slid it on then lifting the locket, she opened it to find a 4 picture slots, inside were a picture of her and wolf sat under a tree in summer, a picture of her, Raiden and Hal. Hal with his arm around her shoulder, one of her hands holding Raiden's wrist and wolf lying at her feet, the 3rd was a picture of everyone together stood in her lab. The final was a picture of a woman with the same fair hair and eyes as sunny. Her mother.

She looked up at her cyborg companion, secured the locket around her neck and smiled "thank you" she whispered, he nodded and smiled, and sunny could see a hint of sadness behind his ice blue eyes, the same that she was sure was reflected in hers.

The short silence was broken by a soldier stumbling down the verge.

"We're under attack!"


	2. Chapter 2

Swords clashed and bullets whistled passed sunny as she ran, puffs of dust erupting from her trainers as she ran towards an old warehouse. All around her, bodies collapsed and blood fell like rain, collecting into ruby red pools on the concrete, reflecting the death throes of the men it once flowed through. Everywhere she looked Maverick soldiers and unknown enemies locked blades as they fought for their lives. Looking behind her, she saw Kevin, Courtney, Hal, George and Boris running with her. As she watched, Boris drew a pistol and pulled the trigger, the bullet finding its mark in the forehead of an enemy, Blood sprayed from the exit wound in the back of his head as Boris continued to run after them.

Hal caught her attention as he and the other ran past her, _"Sunny, head for that door"_ he shouted, gesturing to a small back door, 10 metres away on the side of a grey warehouse. Nodding to show she understood, she altered her course slightly, extending her step to avoid a ruddy pool of congealing blood, her muscles screaming in protest as she surged forward to catch up to her friends. Her ears were full of the shouts of injured and dying men as she ran her vision full of red and grey as the concrete floor was painted red with blood.

"_Almost there, almost there"_ she whispered to herself as she ran, looking up from her tattered trainers, she saw Boris throwing his weight against the door, trying to get it open, whilst Hal attempted the same using the security panel, George was jumping up and down pointing at Sunny whilst talking to Courtney, Kevin looked around nervously, his hands slightly raised as he kept watch.

5 metres away from the door, she heard her friends shout before an icy hand grabbed her arm and she was violently jerked back, she felt a cold hard body behind her as a hand held her wrist down and another grasped her neck

"_Got ya, ya little bitch"_ hot breath tickled her head as the man spoke, pulling her closer as Boris raised his gun towards him.

"_None of that now"_ he said silkily, tightening his grip on Sunny's throat just enough to bruise her skin, his arm shifted, causing a black sleeve to slide down his arm revealing a midnight blue and black cybernetic arm _"you know that bullets can barely damage a cyborg, so how about we lower the gun"_ his voice suddenly turned venomous _"drop the gun or I'll take out her damn throat"_

Sunny glanced around with tears in her eyes, watching her companions, as they froze, glaring angrily at her captor, her gaze turned to Boris. He looked at her for a long moment before slowly lowering his gun

"_Good"_ the man purred, _"that wasn't so hard now was it…HEY!"_ he yelled as Sunny violently lurched

Forward trying to escape, her plan worked, but not exactly as planned.

She managed to slip from his grasp for just a moment before he grabbed her again. Angrily he threw her to the floor, allowing her first glimpse of the stranger.

He was a large man, dark lank hair covered his eyes from view but Sunny could see the metal plating running along his right cheekbone. A long black trench coat covered his body and in his hand, he held a machete, the cold blade glistened in the weak light, but what caught her attention was the bold embroidery on his coat. His left shoulder bore an image of a snarling panther head, deep purple in colour, white teeth bared and eyes as red as the blood being spilled

"_Damn it, you're more trouble than you're worth"_ the man snarled, he raised his sword above his head and bared his teeth _"You die girl!"_

Sunny could hear the shouting of her friends, but all she could see was the blade, the bright cold steel glinted in the pale light as it arced gracefully through the air.

There was something beautiful about that blade as it cut through the air, as sunny watched the machete plunged towards her.

She closed her eyes and waited for the blow...

Which never came...

Opening her eyes she saw the soldier, the blade which had a moment ago been clutched tightly in his grasp slowly fell to the floor with a clang, sunny stared up in confused horror as the mans hands rose, shaking, to his chest. As she watched, the end of a blade pieced through his chest with a sickening crunched, his body jerking as the rest of the blade soon followed, he clutched at the sword as electricity pulsed through the metal before it was violently removed.

The soldier fell to his knees, real and synthetic white blood seeped from the wound, spraying onto Sunny's trousers and pooling to the ground around him as he clasped at his chest. A black clawed foot appeared in Sunny's vision, kicking the dying man onto his side, she heard a sword being sheathed and looked up at the man who had saved her.

"_Raiden"_ she gasped, lurching to her feet and bursting into tears as she slammed into him, wrapping her arms tightly around his metal frame in a hug

"_Hey, its ok, you're alright, I'm here"_ he said, hugging her tightly.

Raiden picked her up and carried her over to the group as they stood, staring next to the warehouse door

"_Raiden, just in time, like always"_ said Boris, chuckling slightly as he wiped his hand across his brow. Raiden placed Sunny down and launched a kick at the metal door, throwing it off its hinges.

"_Quick, inside"_ he said, standing to the side and ushering them in.

Sunny did not move. _"Where have you..."_ she began

"_I'll tell you inside"_ he took her shoulder and gently pushed her into the warehouse, looking round carefully before following them into the building.

**Raiden POV**

A thin shard of light shone through a small window into the room, the golden rays reflecting of small particles dust in the air, causing them to shimmer as they floated idly.

Raiden diverted his attention away from the sight and towards the small congregation of his friends when he heard a voice.

Boris coughed slightly _"so, Raiden. Where did you go?"_ he asked

Raiden thought for a moment, his blue eye quickly flitting to each person in the group, finally resting on sunny. She stared back at him as if willing him to answer. He sighed and returned his gaze to Boris

"_I went to scout out the area"_ he said defensively _"I wanted to see what we were up against, how many there were, that sort of thing" _

Boris' eyes narrowed slightly _"We could have used you with us, Tovarich"_

Raiden stared back, his eye growing slightly colder, he could see the others shifting awkwardly, uncomfortable with the way the conversation was heading.

Raiden growled slightly _"I had you covered"_

"_I did not see you covering us Tovarich"_ Boris crossed his arms and glanced back at Kevin who shifted awkwardly under the look and tightened his grip on Courtney.

"_I didn't say it was me covering you"_ Raiden cocked his head. Boris looked over his shoulder whilst sunny gasped in delight as Blade wolf emerged from a dark corner.

Kevin and Courtney followed Sunny as she ran forward to hug the wolf, clapping Raiden on the shoulder as they walked past. Boris sighed and looked at Raiden. _"I am sorry da?"_ he put a hand on his friends shoulder _"I was just a little worried"_

Raiden nodded, the look in his crystal blue eye softening. He looked around before asking, _"Where's George?" _

The Russian grinned a little, glad the argument was over before gesturing over his shoulder _"he want into that store room to see if there was anything useful"_

As they spoke, the boy emerged from the room, lured by the noise and grinned madly when he saw Raiden and wolf

"_COWABUNGA"_ he shouted when he saw them. Everyone turned and laughed as he jumped up and down on the spot he race towards Raiden, who had joined the group with Blade wolf and skidded to a halt in front of him. _"Me knew you'd get dem skunts,"_ he laughed, punching the cyborgs arm and instantly regretting it, causing another bout of laughter as he cradled his hand.

Raiden shook his head and snorted _"kids"_ he thought to himself. He looked over at Sunny and found that, although she was talking with George, her eyes were fixed on him.

"_She's got something to tell me"_ he realised, he went to take a step forward when he stopped, his eye narrowed as he tilted his head to the side, listening. On the floor, BladeWolfs reaction was almost identical, the tip of his steel tail twitching as he listened intently.

Their reactions did not go unnoticed.

"_What is it?"_ asked Kevin, his face screwed up as he listened. He looked at Courtney, who shook her head

"_I don't hear anything,"_ she said, curiously, looking towards the two machines.

Raidens piercing, ice blue eye locked with BladeWolfs red ones. He nodded once. Instantly Wolf was on his feet rounding the humans up together.

"_What's happening?" _asked Sunny

"_Something's coming," _growled Wolf as he nudged the group towards a small back door

"Wait, what about Raiden," cried Sunny

Raiden glanced back at her _"It'll be alright" _was what he wanted to say, but he did not want to lie to her

"_It's only soldiers...probably" _he smiled at her before shooing her along _"I'll be with you in a minute"_

As his companions disappeared into the back room, he silently drew his sword and crept towards the small window. Peering out he saw a group of soldiers and 5 geckos prowling towards the warehouse, armed and ready.

"shit"


End file.
